Remembrance
by x.alexness.x
Summary: Rose remembers Mason in a way she never thought possible. Set a few months after Frostbite. Oneshot


Sorry to anyone who is waiting for an update for my other story, but it's going nowhere and I'm thinking of deleting it.

This is a story I had to write for school, with slightly revised names. Seen as I got the idea from the Vampire Academy books, I thought I should publish it here.

Please review :)

Disclaimer: I do not own the Vampire Academy books.

* * *

It was cold. The fog covered the landscape, giving everything an icy blue tint and stopping me seeing anything in the distance, when you could normally see everything for miles in these fields.

The cold and the fog was uncommon around here, and most sane people were inside, tucked in their beds.

Yet, here I was.

My face was frozen into a scowl. I had stopped shaking about an hour ago. I was pretty sure I had frostbite in my right foot – I hadn't felt it since I'd set off.

I'd have stopped before I'd even started if it wasn't for the man next to me.

Demetri, my instructor. Also a legend at our school, he had to get up early and stay out late to get me brought up to standards – and he'd chosen to, as well.

Not that I was bad, I was one of the best in my classes… until I'd run away with my best friend, Lissa, and missed about a year and a half of studies and practise.

We had our reasons, trust me, but our teachers… didn't really seem to share our point of view.

"If you'd told someone, Rosemarie, then we could have sorted this out and neither of you would have been behind!" Yes, thank you, miss, you're so helpful.

By now, I was about average in my class… and everyone kept reminding me that if I'd stayed then I'd be _above_ average. But Demetri was still tutoring me, and I was still getting better, so I was wondering when everyone was just going to _shut up_!

"Shall we head back?" Demetri asked me.

_Head back?! _I thought we'd been heading back… I dunno, _an hour ago?!_ "Sure."

I think he might have seen my face, though, because he chuckled, and his breath was the only warmth around, and my shivers came back for a second. Wait, that might not have been from the cold…

Never mind.

"We'll be about half an hour."

_Half an hour_? "How long have we been running?"

"About that time." And he chuckled again, but this time I restrained the shivers.

I sighed and resigned myself to following him again, as he led our way back to the school. Time flowed normally this time, and we were soon back. I rushed to my room to have a shower and determine whether my frostbite was severe… (Just kidding, I didn't really have it… I hope) and to change out of this snowman suit.

After my hair was dry, I grabbed my bag, slung it over my shoulder, made my way to the door… and stopped.

My door wasn't white.

And it didn't have a face on it.

A face that looked mysteriously like…

Oh my god. Mason? But he was dead! I was there! I saw him! How…?

I peered at the white figure in front of my eyes, trying to determine whether it was my mind playing tricks on me, or whether it really was Mason... it couldn't be, right?

The mist seemed to move forwards, taking steps towards me, and the face became clearer... it was definitely Luke. I shivered; half from the fear of having a ghost here, and half from the cold mist that was him.

I opened my mouth to make a snappy response, the ones I was famous for, but I couldn't find the words. "Mason..?" _Wow, brilliant response..._

The place where his head should be – or, well, it was – moved slightly, but I couldn't tell whether it was a nod or not. I guess the confusion showed on my face, because I heard a voice say the affirmative.

Well, it wasn't exactly 'hear'; it was a whisper in my brain. A thought. Only it wasn't my own.

"Was that... how did you _do_ that?!" I asked. Sure, it wasn't the most intelligent or witty response out there, but I was just glad I had control of my voice again.

"_Well, _I_ can't speak._" came the chilling response. I almost shivered again, but stopped myself in time.

My biting responses were back; but I somehow didn't think angering a ghost was a good idea. Even if he was unable to touch me, let alone hurt me.

"Why are you here?" I asked.

"_Are you not happy to see me, Rose? I would have thought you would be... considering you were _dating _me._" He replied. I could hear the sarcasm in his 'voice', and wondered why he was being so... un-Mason-like.

"What do you mean by that?" I demanded. "I'm just shocked!"

If I thought his 'voice' was creepy, it was _nothing_ compared to the snarl I next heard in my head. I could see his face twisted in anger, only barely. I took a step back without thinking about it.

That one movement, it seemed, pleased him. It pleased him that I was afraid of him.

But now his anger was gone, and I was less afraid. I stood up straight, but I couldn't control myself enough to take a step forward, to erase the fear I'd shown.

His face didn't change this time, and I knew he'd noticed this, so he must've known that I was still afraid. He knew me too well. But that wasn't a surprise. When he was alive; I was hardly afraid of him knowing me too well because he'd turn into a ghost.

I'd remember that in future, though.

"Are you going to answer my questions? Or has death made you stupid?" I hoped I had erased all traces of fear from my voice. It sounded pretty normal to me, but then I wasn't in my right state of mind either.

I was expecting the snarl this time, and so I didn't react to it. Well, I reacted inside my head, but that hardly counts.

"_Refresh my memory. I might."_

"Why are you here? With me? Why not anyone else?"

"_I think you only asked one of those questions before._"

I rolled my eyes. "They're all pretty much the same question. And it's not like you're going to run out of time."

He seemed to roll his eyes. "_Of course I'd come to you first. I've been following you for a while and you don't seem to be missing me all that much. I wonder why?_" It wasn't a question.

He knew about me and Demetri. I bit my lip. "I was going to tell you… but, well, I couldn't…" It was the truth… I could hardly tell him whilst we were pretty much dead.

His words were louder in my head. "_You were with him _before?!"

"No, no!" I quickly back-tracked. "I wasn't! I… well; I don't know how to speak to the dead. Normally." I spoke softer, hoping to get through to him.

It didn't work very well. I heard his snarl again, and I flinched slightly but didn't move anymore than that.

I stared right where I thought his eyes were. The light that had been seeping through my curtains was gone and my bedside light was on low. But, you wouldn't see me running to turn it up anytime soon.

For a minute or two, he seemed to be testing me, seeing whether I could keep this up, keep my cool.

I did.

But, at the same time, I was racking my mind as to how to get a ghost away from you. I could only think of one thing… I had to get them to rest in peace.

But how was I going to do that?

Inspiration struck me like a lightning bolt – so hard I almost jumped. Of course, it was simple.

I let tears well up in my eyes – the tears I'd held back, the tears of fear. "I'm sorry…" I felt my lower lip tremble slightly, and looked away quickly as I would have before. Stopping him from seeing me crying. He'd know I was crying, he knew all my habits.

I watched him out of the corner of my blurry eye, and saw shock change his face… at least, I thought it was shock. Then it changed to being slightly sorry. He took a step towards me, before stopping.

"I… it's my fault you died, and I can't forgive myself, I can't expect you to, I'm sorry, sorry…" I was babbling a bit, but that was, again, habit, so I hoped he wouldn't notice the fact that I was slightly over-the-top. Or, if he did, I hoped he'd put it down to the fact that this was slightly abnormal.

"_I don't…_" he started, in a softer voice, putting his hand out to me, before shaking his head and stopping, bringing his hand back to himself. He seemed to be hoping I hadn't heard that, but it was hard not to.

By now, real tears fell down my face, and my shoulders were shaking slightly. I started talking again, "I wish I hadn't… I wish I'd been faster… I could have saved you… it _is_ my fault… I am so sorry…" I am proud to admit my voice even shook.

His expression seemed to be torn between the anger, and the other half with love for me.

He made a decision, and took a step towards me. His expression was pure guilt, and it made me feel so bad that a sob racked its way through my body without my consent.

"_No, it's not your fault…_" I heard, and I felt even more guilt, before the thought came that I was doing this only to put him to rest.

Soon he was in front of me, but I kept my head down, because the Rose Hathaway he knew would not let anyone see her crying.

"I'm sorry…" I whispered one last time.

"You shouldn't be. It's not your fault." He said, and wrapped his arms around me for a second, before his arms were just… gone.

I looked up, and around me, but he wasn't there. I'd put him to rest, but I felt no better when that thought came. I'd tricked him again.

I set down my bag, sat down on my bed, and cried like I hadn't in years.

School could survive a day without me.


End file.
